Latin Quotes, Sayings, Tattoos, Phrases & Mottos

Most texts and materials on this site have to do with the Latin language, including its perception in popular culture: movies, tattoos, inscriptions, engravings, bits of ancient philosophy, online Latin resources and company names. There is also information about learning Latin and Greek: textbooks, dictionaries, DVDs and software that can be used in a homeschooling environment.

Olympic motto

Why should I recall the familiar story of how Baron Pierre de Coubertin was moved by this motto, originally devised by Father Henri Didon? It is indeed more notable that de Coubertin's name is also linked to a different motto: "Ludus pro patria" ("Sport for the sake of the country"), as opposed to fighting a war, of course. To put it bluntly, it was nationalism, not the striving for athletic achievements that spurred the modern Olympic movement. The officially adopted motto is much more appealing to an individual. It also is more true to the spirit of the Ancient Olympics (and other Greek games) where the big event was a chance for every Greek to experience the unity of the nation, and not to compete for his native polis. There is one big difference, though. As far as I know, no records were set at the Greek Olympics. Instead, one had to prove his strength and skills only among the competitors present. Modern fascination with records is responsible a lot of negative moments. It will ultimately cause the demise of the Olympics as we know them. Very soon champions will be getting cloned like sheep, and chemists will be officially in charge of achieving results that are simply possible for a normal human body.

New phrase pattern for the motto generator

Added a new phrase pattern on the motto generator page. This pattern creates phrases like "In mutatione spes" etc (just in time for the primaries). It was not difficult to make this one, because I already had a list of Ablatives. Still, I think it adds something.